Book review: Mi’kmaq persistence

By Karl Hele

No Need of a Chief for This Band is an excellent examination of federal attempts to replace Mi’kmaq governance with an imposed Western “democratic” tradition. Walls shows how the Mi’kmaq reinforced and adapted their systems of governance to meet changing circumstance.  Despite federal visions that the Mi’kmaq under the 1899 council system would adopt Western notions of governance, while these governments were controlled by Indian Agents, the Mi’kmaq persisted in governing themselves.

Walls’ book is readily applicable to Anishinaabe governance issues in Ontario

No Need of a Chief for This Band: The Maritime Mi’kmaq and Federal Electoral Legislation, Martha Elizabeth Walls. University of British Columbia Press, 2010.